Anchit Gupta Profile picture
Feb 1 6 tweets 6 min read
The Phulkian Dynasty of Jind & @IAF_MCC - Jind had a connection to IAF like none other. Air Cmde - RHD Singh, Narendra, and JC Verma were married to three sisters, all daughters of Maharaja Ranbir Singh. Gajinder Bir Singh, the 4th royal sibling, also served in the IAF(1/5) ImageImage
Air Cmde Narendra (1556) married to Devinderbir Kaur Sahiba, commissioned at Cranwell in 1934, served in NWFP 1937 and WW2, became Air Cmde in India in 1947. Was AOC No 2 Trg Group and PSO at AirHQ, died aged 39 in a Dakota Crash in 1951 as 3rd seniormost IAF officer. (2/5)
Air Cmde RHD Singh (1558) married to Brijinder Kaur Sahiba, commissioned at Cranwell in 1935, served in NWFP 1937 and WW2, CO AFS Ambala, AOC Training Cmd, PSO at Air HQ, and retired in 1960. IN 1949 he and Narendra were 2 of 5 Air Rank officers in IAF (3/5) Image
Air Cmde JC Verma (1646) married to Taranbir Kaur Sahiba, commissioned in 1940, became the first Flying instructor in IAF, awarded DFC with 6 Sqn, commanded 2 Wing, 5 Wing, AFFC Jodhpur. Was Director Training and IAF's first Air Attache to the USA. (4/5)
Gajinder Bir Singh, father of Komal GB Singh (famous DD anchor), joined service as an equipment branch officer in 1947 and left in 1956. In a way, this can be considered the first family of IAF, rendering invaluable service to the nation. (5/5)

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Anchit Gupta

Anchit Gupta Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @AnchitGupta9

Feb 3
Ambala, home of the Rafale, was the first @IAF_MCC Stn HQ (independent India) and was formed on 1 April 1938. This historic document sanctions its formation and the move of 1 Sqn to Ambala after 5 years at Drigh Road, Karachi. #IAFHistory (1/5) Image
The peacetime establishment of the Air Force Station HQ was 12 personnel, including three officers headed by a Wg Cdr. Ambala would end up becoming the training cradle of IAF all the way till 1951, thereafter was converted into a Fighter wing and remains so to this date. (2/5) Image
The Air Force Station HQ was necessitated by the permanent presence of two Sqns - No. 1 IAF and No. 28 (AC) RAF Sqn as explained in the note below. A Flight of No. 1 Sqn would move in June 1938 finally. Ambala mess would have 1 Sqn, IAF and 28 Sqn, RAF crest side by side! (3/5) Image
Read 6 tweets
Feb 2
Air Cmde Jagdev Chandra - The first flying instructor of the @IAF_MCC and the architect of the post-independence IAF training setup. As a father figure of training in IAF, he probably deserves more credit and publicity..tinyurl.com/2p8davra (1/9) Image
Jagdev Chandra was born on 6 Oct 1916 in Gujranwala in a Punjabi family, father a doctor and brother, the politician Jag Pravesh Chandra. He quit medical school to join JRD Tata as one of his first students and got his civil flying license from Nothern India Flying Club,Lahore.
He volunteered with the IAFVR and was commissioned with the 4th Pilot Course in Aug 1940. He had nearly 1,000 hours of flying when he joined the IAF. After completing his initial training at ITS, Walton, he was sent to SFTS, Ambala for intermediate flying training (3/9)
Read 10 tweets
Jan 31
The story of an @IAF_MCC pilot who later flew for the Royal Australian Air Force, in the Korea War of 1953 flying P51s and Gloucester Meteors. He was awarded DFC and the United States Air Medal for 76 daring missions even though was shot down once and force landed twice. Read on.
Charles Ronald Albert Howe was born 10 Nov 1922 in DerhdDun and educated at St Thomas' school, Achieving matriculation to Cambridge but was unable to accept the offer due to the war. He enlisted to do his duty in the war and chose the RIAF because he thought he might like flying
He was commissioned with the 16th Pilot Course in March 1943 and served with No. 9, No. 1, and No. 7 Squadrons till 1947. He was 'demobbed' as part of the reduction in service size in 1946 and left India for Australia in 1947. tinyurl.com/2mh9jsfa
Read 8 tweets
Jan 30
#MahatmaGandhi assassination & @IAF_MCC - Seargent Ram Chandra Dua and Seargent Dev Raj Singh were awarded Kirti Chakra for acts of bravery. Dev Raj Singh caught Nathuram Godse and snatched away the Pistol from the Assassin by force. Godse was carrying the loaded ..(1/3) Sgt Ram Chandra Dua
pistol and Sgt. Singh exposed himself to personal risk in grappling with him. There were 7 bullets in his pistol, and he would have gone on firing if Singh had not pounced upon him, gripping him by the wrist, swinging his arm up with one hand while raining blows on his face (2/3)
Sgt. Dua was responsible for apprehending Madan Lal who threw a bomb at #MahatmaGandhi on 20 Jan 48. Madan Lal was in possession of a grenade and Dua held onto him at the risk of his personal life. Kirti Chakras were called "Ashoka Chakra, Class II" prior to 1967. (3/3)
Read 4 tweets
Jan 26
Trivia question for all the @IAF_MCC aficionado - Which was the first "Fighter" Sqn of the IAF? Type your answer as a response and/or retweet to spread the question!

Hint: It is not 1 Sqn, Tigers! The devil lies in the detail :-)
8 Sqn! On October 9,1944, the Sqn was ordered to convert to Spitfires. At the same time, it received the Harvard, with Air Defence as its primary and Ground Attack as its secondary role. Thus it became the first Fighter sqn in the IAF.
Read 4 tweets
Jan 26
Republic Day special! Haider Raza - The forgotten Airman. Commissioned @IAF_MCC as a pilot with the 2nd Pilot Course in 1940, he later moved to Pakistan Air Force, from where he left as the Vice Chief. Not before he had made his mark...His story.. (1/7)
Born on 23 Sep 1916 in Chapra, United Provinces to Mary (Lyng) Raza and Syed Mustapha Raza, he chose to move to PAF on partition, even though his brother continued to serve with the Indian Army. He though spent his last years and died in the USA. (2/7)
He saw service with 1 Sqn and was the first non-white Commanding officer of 10 Sqn of the @IAF_MCC . His last posting before the partition was as Officer-in-Charge Flying of Kohat, the only station open to Indians to command and control. (3/7)
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

:(